Abstract
The way a metaheuristic algorithm is adapted to a given problem is a central issue, as it may considerably influence the efficiency of the resulting algorithm. Certain schemes of such adaptation rely on statistical analyses of the fitness landscape of instances of the problem, e.g. on the fitness-distance analysis. This kind of analysis requires that distance measures for solutions of the problem are defined.
The paper presents the fitness-distance analysis of the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP). Certain distance metrics are defined, experiments with these metrics and other measures on well-known instances of the CVRP described, and results of the analysis provided. These results reveal traces of some structure (’big valley’) in fitness landscapes of more than half of the considered instances, which may provide plausible explanation for efficiency of a well-known metaheuristic algorithm for the problem. They also confirm that fitness-distance analysis could become a tool used by designers of metaheuristics to guide and justify their design choices.
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Kubiak, M. (2007). Distance Measures and Fitness-Distance Analysis for the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem. In: Doerner, K.F., Gendreau, M., Greistorfer, P., Gutjahr, W., Hartl, R.F., Reimann, M. (eds) Metaheuristics. Operations Research/Computer Science Interfaces Series, vol 39. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-71921-4_18
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-71921-4_18
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